Podcast

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Serial killers. Gangsters. Gunslingers. Victorian-era murderers. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Each week, the Most Notorious podcast features true-life tales of crime, criminals and tragedies throughout history. Host Erik Rivenes interviews authors and historians who have studied their subjects for years, and the stories are offered with unique insight, detail, and historical accuracy.

Episodes

Sep 13 2019

In the aftermath of the American Civil War there was a sharp rise of interest from Americans interested in communicating with the dead, and the Spiritualism movement grew increasingly popular. This, combined with the new technology of photography, gave rise to a scam called "spirit photography". The main perpetrator of the fraud was William H. Mumler, who convinced many that he could capture images of lost love ones alongside the living in portrait photographs. Eventually he would face a sensational trial, with even P.T. Barnum testifying against him.&nbsp;My guest is Peter Manseau, writer and curator of American Religious History at the Smithsonian Institution. His book is called "The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost", and he tells the this tale of deception in this latest episode of Most Notorious.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Sep 06 2019

In October of 1900, four men accompanied a young woman named Jennie Bosschieter to a saloon, where one of them slipped a large amount of chloral hydrate into her drink. She was then taken on a ride to a remote place, sexually assaulted, and eventually died from the overdose.My guest is Kimberly Tilley, author of "The Poisoned Glass", and she tells the disturbing story of the murder, the investigation, the trial and its aftermath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Aug 11 2019

My guest is Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of "Sin in the Second City", "American Rose", and "Liar, Temptress, Soldier. Spy". She discusses her new book, "The Ghosts of Eden Park", and the wild story of George Remus, the most powerful bootlegger in early Prohibition-era America. It's a roller-coaster tale - his rise, his fall, and the strange love triangle he shared with wife Imogene and Prohibition Agent Franklin Dodge, which would ultimately drive him to such rage that he would shoot her dead and face a sensational trial.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Aug 01 2019

Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird", famously accompanied Truman Capote as he investigated the murder of the Clutter family; ultimately writing about the terrible events in his true crime classic, "In Cold Blood". Years later, Lee tackled her own multi-murder investigation, with the goal of writing her own true crime book.My guest is Casey Cep, author of "Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee". She not only discusses Harper Lee's involvement, but goes into detail about the Reverend Willie Maxwell, who after murdering five people in Talapoosa County, Alabama, was himself shot dead during the funeral for one of his victims.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jul 19 2019

While Arthur Conan Doyle is recognized as the creator of one of the most famous characters in literary history - Sherlock Holmes- fewer people know that Doyle used his Holmesian skills of deduction to help solve actual real-life true crime cases. One in particular had to do with Oscar Slater, a Jewish immigrant gambler who was convicted for the brutal beating death of a wealthy woman named Marion Gilchrist in Glasgow, Scotland in late December of 1908.My guest, Margalit Fox, is author of the book "Conan Doyle for the Defense: How Sherlock Holmes's Creator Turned Real-Life Detective &amp; Freed a Man Wrongly Imprisoned For Murder".&nbsp; She tells the story about Slater's wrongful conviction and Doyle's crusade for justice amidst a corrupt Glasgow police department. &nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jul 10 2019

With Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" due to be released at the end of July, there is a renewed interest in Charles Manson and his murderous cult. My guest, Lis Wiehl, author of "Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice In the Days of Helter Skelter" explains Manson's powerful influence over the wayward youth that flocked to the Spahn Ranch in 1968 and 69, and how he managed to convince them that committing murder would help spark a race war and a revolution.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jun 26 2019

Cults are certainly not a new phenomenon - in fact one of the strangest ones existed in Los Angeles in the 1920s. The "Blackburn Cult", also known as the "Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven", was the brainchild of a grifter named May Otis Blackburn. She, along with her daughter Ruth, in need of money, suddenly claimed that the archangel Gabriel had visited them with orders to write books that revealed the mysteries of life, death, and a post-apocalyptic world that would be ruled by eleven Queens .&nbsp;My guest is Samuel Fort, author of "Cult of the Great Eleven".&nbsp; He discusses some of the cult's bizarre rituals and behavior, and more ominously, the mysterious deaths and disappearances it was involved in - grim events that would eventually be exposed to the country in a sensational trial.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jun 19 2019

If I were to make a list of the most notorious murder cases in American history, the Sacco and Vanzetti case would certainly make my top ten. In April of 1920, two payroll guards were gunned during a robbery in Braintree, Massachusetts. Police immediately honed in on two Italian-born anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, and charged them with murder. My guest, Susan Tejada, author of "In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times and the Massachusetts Murder Case That Shook the World", dives into the case in detail. And it's fascinating - from a questionable police investigation, including confusing ballistics evidence, to a biased judge, to an ignored confession, this is a case that caused a world-wide outcry over a failed legal process, which led to the eventual execution of both men.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jun 12 2019

Long before Dutch Schultz, "Lucky" Luciano or even Monk Eastman ran rackets in New York City, a man named Albert Hicks terrorized lower Manhattan. He'd made his living as a murderous pirate, and became one of the worst criminals to ever wander the notorious Five Points, a wretched slum made famous in Asbury's (and Scorsese's) "Gangs of New York". Rich Cohen, bestselling author of "The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, A Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation" is my guest this week. He tells the story of a mysterious, empty ship found floating in the New York Harbor in 1860, and evidence left behind of three violent murders that would eventually lead police to the handsome and ruthless Albert Hicks.&nbsp;Go to www.mostnotorious.com and hit the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jun 05 2019

My guest is George R. Dekle Sr., former prosecutor and prolific author. He discusses his book, "Six Capsules: The Gilded Age Murder of Helen Potts", and draws comparisons between the Helen Pott's husband, Carlyle Harris (who would be tried and convicted for her murder in the sensational New York case) and Ted Bundy, whom Dekle was responsible for prosecuting in Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 25 2019

In June of 1968, a wealthy Detroit-area family was gunned down in their northern Michigan cabin. It would become one of the most famous cold cases in the state's history. Mardi Link, author of "When Evil Came to Good Hart", shares the tragic story of the Robison family, and the police suspect who was never convicted but almost certainly committed the terrible crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 10 2019

In 1385, a bitter feud between two French courtesans came to a terrible head when Marguerite, the beautiful young wife of Norman knight Jean de Carrouges, accuses her husband's enemy, Jacques LeGris, of raping her while she has been left alone. After a long legal fight, Parliament finally determines that God will produce the verdict. A judicial duel to the death will decide the outcome. And the risk is great. If Carroughes is killed, Marguerite will also die. My guest is Eric Jager, professor of medieval literature at UCLA. He summarizes the story documented so thrillingly in his book, The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Apr 30 2019

Paul Andrew Hutton, best-selling author of The Apache Wars: The Hunt For Geronimo, The Apache Kid, And The Captive Boy Who Started The Longest War In American History, is my guest on this episode of Most Notorious. He tells the story of a mixed-blood warrior and Apache scout named Mickey Free, whose capture as a boy is considered the catalyst for the Apaches Wars. They were wars that spanned over two decades in the American Southwest, and led by famed Apache leaders like Geronimo, Cochise and&nbsp; Mangas Coloradas. The Apache Wars also gave birth to one of the most famous outlaws of the era, the notorious "Apache Kid".&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Apr 20 2019

Most of us have grown up thinking that Elliot Ness and his famed "Untouchables" were the crimefighters who brought down the notorious Al Capone in Chicago. But instead, it was a group of millionaire businessmen called the "Secret Six" who were the real reason for the Capone Outfit's demise. In his book "Al Capone and the 1933 World's Fair: The End of the Gangster Era in Chicago", my guest, William Hazelgrove, makes the argument that in order for the city to successfully host their second World's Fair, they had to take out Al Capone first.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Apr 12 2019

In 1974, a young woman named Alice killed her abusive husband. Then she met and married a man named Gerald Uden, who was having financial issues with his ex-wife, Virginia Martin. Not long after, Gerald would murder Virginia and her two sons, Richard and Reagan, and hide their bodies in the vast Wyoming wilderness. Best selling author Ron Franscell is my guest, and he talks about his research into 40 year old murder investigation, along with his beliefs about Gerald Uden as a sociopathic murderer.&nbsp; His book is called "Alice and Gerald: A Homicidal Love Story".&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Apr 03 2019

On January 10th, 1883, the famed Newhall House hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, caught fire. Made worse by a series of blunders by hotel staff and a poorly trained and equipped fire department, seventy five people would ultimately lose their lives in the horrific, raging inferno. My guest, historian Matthew J. Prigge, is author of “Damn the Old Tinderbox! Milwaukee’s Palace of the West and the Fire That Defined An Era”. He tells the harrowing stories of the guests and the staff who both perished and escaped from one of the most devastating hotel fires in American history, and the man who would eventually be arrested and tried for setting the blaze.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Mar 22 2019

In part two of this episode, John Boessenecker continues his tale of Frank Hamer, including his days as a Prohibition agent in the 1920s, a cold-case investigator, and his famous hunt of notorious Depression-era outlaws and murderers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. John Boessenecker is the New York Times bestselling author of Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 22 2019

My guest is John Boessenecker, former police officer and New York Times bestselling author of Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde. In this first part of the episode, he talks about Hamer's wild and bloody career in Texas law enforcement from 1906 until 1920, and makes the case that Hamer was the greatest American lawman of the twentieth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13 2019

On December 6th, 1969, The Rolling Stones headlined a free concert at Altamont Speedway outside of San Francisco. It quickly turned ugly, culminating with the stabbing death of eighteen-year-old Meredith Hunter by a member of the Hell's Angels, who were acting as security. My guest, Joel Selvin, long-time music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times bestselling author, explains how the concert came into being and offers details on the terrible night, including his thoughts on whether Mick Jagger and the Stones&nbsp; were really aware of the extent of the violence during their set.&nbsp; Joel Selvin's book is called The Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Mar 06 2019

In June of 1906, famed architect Stanford White was murdered by an obsessive millionaire's son named Harry Thaw at the roof garden theater of Madison Square Garden. His attorneys would claim in the sensational court case that followed that he'd done it because his young wife, model Evelyn Nesbit, had been raped by White when she was only sixteen. My guest is award-winning historian and author Simon Baatz, and his book is called The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex Murder and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.&nbsp; He joins me to tell the dramatic story.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 25 2019

In early 1942, as World War II raged and Japan threatened Australia, tens of thousands of American servicemen arrived in Melbourne to provide assistance in the Pacific Theater.One young U.S. soldier, however, named Eddie Leonski, used the browned-out city as a hunting ground to strangle and murder women. My guest is Ian W. Shaw, author of Murder at Dusk: How US Soldier and Smiling Pyschopath Eddie Leonski Terrorized Wartime Melbourne. He shares details of the serial murders and their consequences to U.S.-Australian relations at a pivotal time in world history.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 20 2019

In 1902 New York City, a group of wealthy young men, known as the Bedford Avenue Gang, spent their free time terrorizing their neighborhood - including drinking, stealing, fleecing businesses and seducing women. After gang member Walter Brooks, began dating one of the gang's groupies, a badly behaved young woman named Florence Burns, he ended up murdered in a seedy downtown hotel. Virginia A. McConnell, author of The Belle of Bedford Avenue: The Sensational Brooks-Burns Murder in Turn-of-the-Century New York, is my guest on this episode. She tells the story of Florence Burns, the Bedford Avenue Gang, and how the&nbsp; "Unwritten Law" helped determine whether justice would ever be served in the murder of Walter Brooks.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 18 2019

In February of 1921 in Missoula, Montana, a wife and mother of two named Nora Shea was gunned down near some railroad tracks. The main suspect was a local hoodlum named Joe Vuckovich, but a recent piece of surfaced evidence points the finger at her husband, Jerry Shea, as the real killer.My guest is history writer and journalist Kim Briggeman, whose article in the Missoulian newspaper brought the nearly one-hundred year old murder back to local attention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 06 2019

For decades, the 1912 Villisca, Iowa axe slaughter of the Moore family has been one of the greatest unsolved family massacres in American history. Many believe that it was a local townsperson, but others believe it was the work of an transient serial killer. From the late 1890s until possibly as late as the 1920s, Paul Mueller, a German sailor, rode the American rails, murdering entire families with the blunt edge of an axe, according to my guest, Rachel McCarthy James. She, along with her co-author and father, baseball historian and&nbsp; statistician Bill James, make a convincing case in their book, The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery, that they have discovered the slayer of potentially a hundred or more people across the United States, Canada, and even Germany.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 29 2019

In August of 1965, the idyllic little community of Shaker Heights, Ohio, was shaken to its foundation when housewife Mariann Colby shot to death her neighbor boy, eight-year-old Cremer Young Jr.. Attorney and professor William L. Tabac, author of Insanity Defense and the Mad Murderess of Shaker Heights: Examining the Trial of Marian Colby, tells the story of the crime and her defense's bold strategy in claiming that the seemingly sane woman was actually insane at the moment she pulled the trigger.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 22 2019

The 1947 Los Angeles Black Dahlia murder case has long been one of the most infamous unsolved crimes in American history, and many suspects have been accused over the years of being the slayer of Elizabeth Short. In this second Most Notorious episode about the subject, I talk with Piu Eatwell, author of Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption and Cover Up of America’s Greatest Unsolved Murder. In her book, she makes a convincing case that the murderer was a man being pursued in a separate parallel police investigation, secret from the public, until it all blew up and the doctor leading the charge was unfairly discredited, despite compelling evidence.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 14 2019

On July 2nd, 1881, a disappointed and mentally unstable office-seeker named Charles Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield in a Washington D.C. train station. Over the next weeks, Garfield would linger, bedridden, as infection set in, caused by poor medical treatment, and America would wait with bated breath over whether their beloved president would survive. Meanwhile, Guiteau, the most hated man in America, would face trial and possible execution. My guest is Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author, who discusses her book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 28 2018

Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll grew up quickly, from Irish tenements to enforcer for Bronx bootlegger and gangster Dutch Schultz while still in his teens. Soon the two split, and began gunning for each other in a bloody feud that left a trail of dead hoodlums in its wake. My guest is Rich Gold, co-author with Breandán Delap of the book, Mad Dog Coll: An Irish Gangster, and tells the story of this vicious gangster, including his violent end in a New York City drugstore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 18 2018

In this special interview episode from the files of Where Blood Runs Cold, I interview Sharon Henry Darby, author of Glensheen's Daughter, about the notorious Minnesota murderer and arsonist Marjorie Congdon, who besides allegedly conspiring to murder her mother Elizabeth Congdon at the famous Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, also left a trail of fire and death for the next three decades across the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 20 2018

The subject of today's episode is Henri Landru, the most notorious serial killer in French history. He placed advertisements in Paris newspapers in the late 1910s, preying on lonely women left behind as French soldiers marched off to war. While he would eventually be tried and convicted on twelve counts of murder, Richard Tomlinson, the author of "Landru's Secret: The Deadly Seductions of France's Lonely Hearts Serial Killer", believes the actual murder count to be higher, and he explains why on this final episode of Most Notorious for 2018. &nbsp; Back again in February of 2019!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 02 2018

Ann Marie Ackermann is my guest on this episode, author of the book "Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee". In 1835, a German mayor is murdered at night as he approaches his own front door. After an extensive investigation, including the first forensic ballistics test in history, the case goes cold until 1871, when it is finally solved in the United States. To make the story even more strange and compelling, the murderer of the mayor ends up dying at the feet of a young Robert E. Lee during a Mexican-American War battle.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 25 2018

My guest is Dr. Emilie La Beau Lucchesi, author of Ugly Prey: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago. She discusses the case of Sabella Nitti, a poor Italian immigrant woman accused by police of murdering her husband, with help from her farmhand lover. Dr. Lucchesi's investigation offers new evidence that she helps further exonerate Nitti, who is probably most well known in modern day culture as one of the characters in the Chicago musical and film. Brought to you by Audible, with the largest selection of audiobooks on the planet. Start your 30-day trial and get your first audiobook free by going to Audible.com/Erik, or texting Erik to 500500. Also, try the commission-free investment app, Robinhood. Go to notorious.robinhood.com to sign up!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 18 2018

I'm pulling a switcheroo this week - in blatant shameless effort to get listeners to try my new podcast, Minnesota's Most Notorious: Where Blood Runs Cold, I'm putting part one of the first episode from that show up here, a mystery surrounding the murder of Louis Arbogast in 1909 St. Paul, and putting a brand new interview (about Duluth's Glensheen murders) on the new podcast. Part two of the Arbogast story is there too, by the way, should you care to finish the tale. Back to the regular Most Notorious next week, with more interviews of true crime authors on their way!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Sep 27 2018

Catherine Pelonero, author of Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and its Private Consequences, is my guest. She walks us through the tragic murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 and its aftermath. The horrific crime is especially infamous because no one called police or stepped in to help, despite being witnessed by dozens of people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 20 2018

Author Jack Kelly joins me to discuss his book, "Heaven's Ditch: God Gold and Murder". He shares some stories of murder and mystery surrounding the great engineering marvel known as the Erie Canal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 13 2018

Mafia historian and Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano is my guest this episode. He offers insight into gangster Frank Costello, underboss to Lucky Luciano, whose role and influence in the growth of organized crime in America was immense. DeStefano's book is called "Top Hoodlum: Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 06 2018

Stacy Horn, author of "Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad and Criminal in 19th-Century New York", joins me to chat about the infamous New York City island, which housed (among other terrible buildings) the women's notorious lunatic asylum that continued to operate for decades, despite the horrendous abuses committed against the inmates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 30 2018

Even today, the world is still utterly fascinated with the Romanov family, the last Tsar and Tsarina of Imperial Russia and their famous daughters and son. My guest is Helen Rappaport, a world-renowned expert on the subject. She joins me to discuss her third book about the Romanovs, called "The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family", which answers lingering questions about why the world couldn't save the family from their terrible deaths.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Aug 22 2018

In the early 1900s police were stymied by a series of murders of Italian grocers and fruit vendors in midwest America. Witnesses refused to cooperate, which made the crimes impossible to solve. Enter the United States Postal Service. Postal Inspector Frank Oldfield finds a man willing to testify, and suddenly the organization is knee-deep in a massive investigation which leads them to one of the first crime rings of Sicilian gangsters in American history. For the first time, law enforcement agencies realize that an organized mafia (known as the Black Hand) exists in the United States.&nbsp; My guests are William Oldfield and Victoria Bruce, authors of **Inspector Oldfield and the Black Hand Society**, and share some of the most interesting details from their book on this episode.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Aug 16 2018

In November, 1849, Dr. George Parkman, Boston businessman and Harvard Medical School benefactor, disappeared. While many believed he might have been done in by an Irish immigrant, the discovery of his dismembered body in a privy eventually led investigators to a Harvard faculty teacher, John Webster. Paul Collins, English professor at Portland State University and author of **Blood and Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard**, relays this story of debt, greed and rage at one of America's most prestigious colleges, during the era of Longfellow, Emerson, Melville, Hawthorne and Dickens.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jul 18 2018

My guest, author and journalist Paul Hoffman, discusses the July 1925 abduction and murder of little Buddy Schumacher in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He wrote the book, "Murder in Wauwatosa: The Mysterious Death of Buddy Schumacher." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 04 2018

New York Times best-selling author Tom Clavin joins me to talk about his book, "Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 27 2018

In this episode of Most Notorious, I chat with Philip Jett, author of "The Death of an Heir: Adolph Coors III and the Murder That Rocked an American Brewing Dynasty”. He discusses the attempted kidnapping and eventual murder of Coors Brewery heir Adolph Coors III in 1960 Colorado, and the personal involvement of J. Edgar Hoover in this sensational case that drew international interest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 15 2018

My guest is Nathan E. Bender, who wrote the introduction for the most recent edition of the 1958 classic "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson". Johnson, (who was the basis for Robert Redford's character in the "Jeremiah Johnson" film), is known in history for hunting down members of the Crow Indian tribe to avenge his wife and child's death, but much of our modern knowledge of this now legendary figure was made up by the original authors of the book, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. Author Nathan Bender tells us the true story of Liver-Eating Johnson, and helps separate myth from historical accuracy.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Apr 05 2018

Rose Veres, known as "The Witch of Delray", was tried in 1931 for murdering one of her tenants in Detroit, and has been suspected of killing others throughout the 1920s. Karen Dybis, author of "The Witch of Delray: Rose Veres and Detroit's Infamous 1930’s Murder Mystery" is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious, and not only tells Rose's story, but helps separate legend (and serial killer accusations) from the true-life, historical account of her story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Mar 29 2018

In 1936, New York City prosecutors, desperate to put infamous Murder Inc. boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano behind bars, decided to arrest him on tenuous charges for running the Big Apple's largest prostitution racket. Ellen Poulsen is my guest, and author of "The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial". She talks about the case, the trial, and the state of prostitution and organized crime in 1930s New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Mar 22 2018

Fifty years after the brutal murders of three Tucson women, an inside account of killer Charles Schmid, aka "The Pied Piper of Tucson" is published - written by Schmid's former friend Richard Bruns not long after the tragic and terrible events. The author's daughter, Lisa Espich joins the Most Notorious podcast to share the fascinating details from her father's book, called "I, a Squealer: The Insider's Account of the Pied Piper of Tucson Murders". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Mar 15 2018

The Axeman has become a figure of American folklore; a jazz-loving serial killer preying on Italian grocers in 1910s New Orleans. Miriam C. Davis, the author of "The Axeman of New Orleans", chats with me about the series of murders that terrified the city and helps separate myth from fact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 08 2018

My guest is the prolific true crime author Harold Schechter, who returns to talk about his latest book, "Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men". He tells the story about the legendary Norwegian immigrant serial killer who lured men to her Laporte, Indiana farm and murdered them, before a fire finally destroyed the farmhouse and killed her children, and allegedly her as well. Sponsored by ZipRecruiter.com/most . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 22 2018

My guest is Karen L. Cox, author of "Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South". She tells the story of Jennie Merrill, an aged Southern belle who was murdered in her home in 1932 Natchez Missouri. Two of the main suspects against her were her neighbors: Octavia Dockery (aka " Goat Woman") and Dick Dana (aka "Wild Man"), who lived in the notorious ramshackle mansion nicknamed "Goat Castle". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 14 2018

True crime history enthusiasts are devouring TNT's "The Alienist", the television show based on the popular Caleb Carr novel. Richard Zacks, the author of "Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York" joins me to talk about this crazy era in the New York City's history, and how reformer and newly minted police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt attempted to curtail the power of corrupt Tammany Hall politicians and police officers, who profited from the lax law enforcement of brothels, saloons and gambling joints.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 08 2018

From December of 1884 to December of 1885 a serial killer terrorized the city of Austin Texas. He had multiple nicknames: the Midnight Assassin, the Intangible Nemesis and the Servant Girl Annihilator. Journalist Skip Hollandsworth, author of "The Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for America's First Serial Killer", shares the story of this brutal murderer's killing spree, the suspects, the hapless police department who pursued him, and the rumors that the killer was none other than Jack the Ripper.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 01 2018

Historian James L. Neibaur, author of "Butterfly in the Rain: The 1927 Abduction and Murder of Marion Parker", talks about the horrific tale of a young girl kidnapped from her family in Jazz-age Los Angeles and brutally murdered. Also, Mark Lee Gardner joins me for a chat about the latest rash of Billy the Kid photographs that have surfaced and their legitimacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 24 2018

1952 post-war London was a city in the throes of tragedy. Thousands were sickened and killed from a great filthy smog that choked the city. In the meantime a serial killer named John Reginald Christie was lurking in Notting Hill, murdering multiple women over years and burying their bodies in his backyard, under floorboards and behind walls. Author Kate Winkler Dawson tells these two parallel stories and their ultimate repercussions for the country in her book "Death In the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City."&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 17 2018

Perhaps the most notorious killer in 19th century America was H.H. Holmes, a man who committed fraud and murder with cold abandon across the United States. His infamous Chicago "murder castle" is legendary in true crime lore. My guest, Adam Selzer, author of "H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil", tells Holmes' story and breaks some myths about the murderous scoundrel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 09 2017

My guest is former criminal defense attorney Mark Shaw, author of "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen". He talks about the life of Pulitzer nominated reporter and television star Dorothy Kilgallen, who was on the brink of breaking wide open the real story behind John Kennedy's assassination before her mysterious and suspicious death abruptly ended her investigation. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 08 2017

My guest, Jay Atkinson, author of "Massacre on the Merrimack", tells the notorious and controversial story of Hannah Duston. After members of the Abenaki tribe captured her and her newborn infant in March of 1697, they killed her baby on a forced march north. Duston got her revenge by killing and scalping ten of her captors, including six children, and fleeing by canoe back to her home in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Sep 03 2017

My guest is Charles Brandt, the author of bestselling book "I Heard You Paint Houses", now being made into a Martin Scorsese film with Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. He tells the story of Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran, a hitman who goes to work for famed mob boss Russell Bufalino and Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa in the 1950s and 60s. According to confessions by Sheeran to Brandt, he was involved in three of the most famous murders of their era - President John Kennedy, Jimmy Hoffa and "Crazy" Joe Gallo. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Aug 13 2017

In the spring of 1897, Chicago sausage tycoon Adolph Leutgert's wife Louisa went missing. Police soon suspected her body had been dissolved in a vat in Adolph's factory. My guest, Robert Loerzel, author of "Alchemy of Bones: Chicago’s Luetgert Murder Case of 1897", tells the sensational true crime story of murder, sex and sausage on this week's episode of Most Notorious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 30 2017

In 1941 Berlin police were on the hunt for a serial killer who stalked women on the S-Bahn at night, bludgeoning victims to death before throwing their bodies off of the train. Scott Andrew Selby, author of "A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer" details the terrible rape and murder spree of railway worker Paul Ogorzow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 18 2017

In 1828 two friends named William Burke and William Hare killed sixteen people in Edinburgh, Scotland and sold their bodies to an anatomist named Dr. Robert Knox. Dr. Lisa Rosner, author of "The Anatomy Murders", tells the story of this notorious duo of serial killers and the nefarious business of body selling in early 19th century Scotland. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jul 09 2017

Oklahoma oilman and multi-millionaire Jake Hamon had just helped elect Warren Harding President of the United States and had a fast track to Secretary of the Interior - but under one condition. He had to break things off with his mistress of ten years, Clara Smith. That was when things went terribly wrong. David R. Stokes tells the amazing story straight out of his book, "Jake and Clara: Scandal, Politics, Hollywood and Murder". Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jun 26 2017

My guest is historian Michael Greenburg, the author of "The Mad Bomber of New York, The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt that Paralyzed a City". He tells the story of serial bomber George Metesky, who terrorized New York City in the 1940s and 50s over a grudge with a utility company. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 04 2017

The number of theories surrounding the Jack the Ripper murders in 1880s London are too staggering to mention. At least 200 suspects have been considered over the decades and spirited debate over his true identity has preoccupied the time of many a true crime history buff. Donald Rumbelow is my guest on this first Jack the Ripper episode of Most Notorious. He is a world renowned expert on the subject, and gives us an introduction to the infamous series of murders, and also discusses some of the primary suspects. His book "The Complete Jack the Ripper" has been the go-to manual for Ripperologists for 45 years. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

May 21 2017

On September 28th, 1953, Bobby Greenlease, 6 year-old son of millionaire Robert Greenlease, was kidnapped and then murdered by two grifters named Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady. John Heidenry, author of "Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease" tells the disturbing story of this notorious crime, which included corrupt cops and Saint Louis mobsters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 06 2017

My guest is Juliet Mofford, author of "The Devil Made Me Do It! Crime and Punishment in Early New England". She discusses a variety of topics, including scarlet letters, witches, and the methods that Puritans dealt out punishments to law-breakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 22 2017

My guest today, Catherine Spude, author of "That Fiend in Hell: Soapy Smith in Legend", tells the story of the renowned con-man, crime boss and murderer Soapy Smith, known in history as the "King of Skagway". She also helps separate the fact from the fiction and dispel some myths about the most notorious man in Alaskan history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 08 2017

In a rough part of Cleveland Ohio called Kingsbury Run, twelve decapitated bodies, some mutilated and dismembered, were discovered from 1934-1938. My guest, Dr. James Badal, author of "In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders", discusses the details of the crimes and the investigation, including the involvement of legendary lawman Elliot Ness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 18 2017

There are many myths surrounding Grigori Rasputin, known in popular history as the "Mad Monk" and the "Holy Devil". His influence on Tsar Nicholas II and his family in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Russia is well known, but my guest, Douglas Smith, author of "Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs" sheds new light on his life, his motives and where the legends end and the actual man begins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 12 2017

Dillinger historian Ellen Poulsen, author of "Don't Call Us Molls", completes her interview with me about the role of women in Depression-era gangs of the Midwest. Included in this episode, girlfriends of the Barker-Karpis and Dillinger Gangs, Mrs. Babyface Nelson and Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame. Sponsored by BlueApron.com/most Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 04 2017

In this first part of my two part interview with Ellen Poulsen, author of "Don't Call Us Molls", we discuss the many women involved with notorious 1930s Public Enemy #1 John Dillinger, including Evelyn "Billie" Frechette, Anna Sage and Polly Hamilton, and the role that molls played in the lives of bank-robbing Depression-era gangsters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 21 2017

In March of 1887 a high-class prostitute and two others, including a child, were found stabbed to death in a luxury apartment on the upscale Avenue Montaigne. Police settle on a mysterious immigrant gigolo as their main suspect, named Enrico Pranzini. My guest, Aaron Freundschuh, author of "The Courtesan and the Gigolo: The Murders in the Rue Montaigne and the Dark Side of Empire in Nineteenth-Century Paris" tells the story of the crime, the investigation, the trial, and the role that xenophobia played in its outcome.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Feb 11 2017

Richard Zacks, bestselling author of "Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" is my guest, and he tells some stories (and breaks some myths) about a man considered one of the most infamous pirates in American history. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 03 2017

The 1930s were filled with news of midwest bank-robbers like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd and Bonnie & Clyde, but few know that Boston had its own gang of thieves and killers during the Depression. Murt Millen, a whip-smart but unstable Jewish kid, his mentally challenged brother, Irv, his wife, Norma Brighton (the wayward daughter of a minister), and his MIT graduate friend Abe Faber, formed the Millen-Faber gang in the early 30s. My guest, Nathan Gorenstein, author of "Tommy Gun Winter: Jewish Gangsters, a Preacher's Daughter, and the Trial That Shocked 1930s Boston", tells the tale about the rise and fall of this notorious group of hoodlums.&nbsp; Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 20 2017

Two events in early 1940s L.A. grabbed newspaper headlines almost back to back- The murder of Jose Diaz and following trial of 22 boys, and the race riots between American sailors and zoot-suit wearing Mexican-American kids in downtown Los Angeles. Eduardo Obregón Pagán is a professor at Arizona State University and a co-host of PBS's History Detectives, and he talks with me about his book, "Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A.". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 13 2017

Carl Panzram was a self-confessed serial killer and rapist, who admitted in his autobiography to over 20 murders just before his execution in 1930. My guest, John Borowski, director of the documentary "Carl Panzram: The Spirit of Hatred and Vengeance" talks about this man, who many consider one of most evil people to ever walk the earth, and how childhood traumas and prison torture might have contributed in transforming him into a monster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jan 07 2017

Few of us think of 19th century Los Angeles in the same breath as Tombstone, Dodge City, or Deadwood, but in the 1850s it was filled with rampant racism and violent conflict. Vigilantes roamed the streets and lynchings were commonplace. My guest, Professor John Mack Faragher, author of "Eternity Street: Violence and Justice in Frontier Los Angeles" talks about this rough and savage time in California history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 30 2016

In 1913 a PR man named John Gluck successfully petitions the US Post Office for control of New York City's Santa Claus letters. From that point forward, he not only builds the Santa Claus Association into a major holiday organization, but also finds ways to steal large amounts of money in the process. Alex Palmer, author of "The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas In New York", talks about one of the great Christmas cons in American history.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 24 2016

Cory Frye, author of "Murder in Linn County, Oregon: The True Story of the Legendary Plainview Killings" is my guest. He tells two stories. On June 21, 1922, Linn County sheriff Charles Kendall and Reverend Roy Healy drove out to arrest a moonshining farmer named Dave West. By the end of the day, all three men were dead. William Dunlap replaced him, but was also killed on duty within a year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 17 2016

My interview with Michael Wallis, author of "Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd" continues. We cover the bloody and notorious Kansas City Massacre, as well as the last few weeks, days and hours of Pretty Boy Floyd's life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 10 2016

Pretty Boy Floyd lit up the late 20s and early 30s Midwest with bank robberies, daring escapes from the law, and cold-blooded murder. My guest, Michael Wallis, author of "Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd", talks about his early life, his first forays into crime, time in a Kansas prison, and an audacious bank heist in his hometown cheered by his friends and grandfather in this first part of a two part series on the legendary social bandit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 03 2016

Rumors for many years have circulated about the mysterious death of famed boxer Sonny Liston in December of 1970. My guest, Shaun Assael, author of "The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin and Heavyweights" and a former police reporter and sports writer for ESPN Magazine, talks about the suspects and possible scenarios surrounding Lison's demise, and the very strong possibility of his murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 29 2016

This is a mini-episode of Most Notorious, with a couple of short stories of historical true crime. First, Jake Bird, a serial killer who places a hex on his Tacoma prosecutors and jailers in 1947, told by Tacoma newspaper reporter Steve Dunkelberger. The second story is one that has haunted the citizens of Waseca, Minnesota for decades. Farmer Julius Schuch and two of his children were murdered on their family farm in 1929. This one researched and told by me. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all your holiday shopping!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 18 2016

One of the most enduring historical mysteries of the 20th century is of the missing Sodder children. After a fire in the family home on Christmas Eve of 1945, George and Jennie escaped with four of their children, however five more never made it out of the house. At first, it was assumed that they died in an accidental fire, but a series of strange clues aroused their suspicions that something more sinister happened to them and their home instead. I'm joined by Jennie Henthorn, granddaughter of George and Jennie Sodder, who gives the family's perspective, details and possible theories about the reason for the fire, and the potential fate of her aunts and uncles.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 04 2016

My guest, David Pietrusza, is the author of "Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series". He talks about this extraordinary, eccentric man who managed to expertly balance between high society, highbrow intellectual circles, Tammany Hall and the underworld, and had his fingers in just about every racket in Jazz-Age New York City. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 28 2016

In the outskirts of France in 1869, an entire family is found dead after being stabbed and then buried alive. G.S. Johnston, author of "The Cast of a Hand", talks about France in the 1860s under Napoleon III, and the events that led up to the terrible, tragic murders of Jean and Hortense Kinck and their six children by Jean-Baptiste Troppmann and possible accomplices. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 21 2016

Just in time for some Halloween, Diane Student, co-producer and host of the "History Goes Bump" podcast, joins me to share her list of the top ten most notorious ghosts in American history. We deviate a bit from our regular author /interview format this week to delve into some of the sightings of ghostly activity attributed to many of the subjects we've covered in past episodes, including The Black Dahlia and Jesse James, and some we haven't, like the infamous H.H. Holmes. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 14 2016

In Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, on a November evening in 1928, Nelson Rehymeyer, a local "powwow" practitioner of Christian folk magic, is murdered in his home. John Blymire soon confesses, telling police that he was trying to lift a hex. Shane Free, the producer and director of the documentary "Hex Hollow" is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious, where he explains the details of this strange and terrible crime. Sponsors of this week's episode are Stamps.com and Harrys.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Oct 07 2016

In December 1888, in Bradford, England, a little boy named Johnny Gill disappears and is eventually found murdered, his body mutilated almost beyond recognition. Kathryn McMaster, author of "Who Killed Little Johnny Gill" tells the tragic story of this most horrific of crimes, and the man who she thinks did the evil deed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 25 2016

In 1871, on the outskirts of London, a police constable discovers a young woman, bloodied and battered beyond recognition. She dies, and the police officially have a murder on their hands. They eventually set their sights on Edmund Pook, the son of a wealthy printer, who had employed the woman, named Jane Clauson, as a family servant. Paul Thomas Murphy, author of "Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder that Shocked Victorian England" tells the story of the murder, the subsequent trial, and his own ideas on what really happened.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Aug 18 2016

Bestselling UK author Kate Summerscale joins me to talk about her book, "The Wicked Boy". Two young boys, Robert and Nattie Coombs, conspire to murder their mother in Victorian-era London. While the murder is gruesome and sensational, an uplifting event years later gives hope that rehabilitation can have a positive effect on a young criminal's life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 10 2016

My conversation with author Mark Lee Gardner continues, about his book "Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape". In the second part of the story, we talk about the James-Younger Gang's flight into the Big Woods of southern Minnesota, and the difficulties that they faced navigating through unknown territory, and also the troubles the local posses had finding them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 03 2016

Much has been written about Jesse James, including his gang's ill-fated trip to Northfield, Minnesota, a botched bank raid met with death and tragedy, but never told like this. Mark Lee Gardner, author of "Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid and the Wild West's Greatest Escape", joins me to tell the story of the James-Younger gang's foray north from Missouri and the chaos that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 27 2016

In April of 1920, neighbors discover the bodies of most of the Wolf Family, killed by shotgun and hatchet, on their North Dakota farm, just outside Turtle Lake. Only the Wolfs' eight month old daughter survived. Vernon Keel, journalist and author, grew up in Turtle Lake, and joins me to talk about the book he's written about the sensational and tragic crime, called "The Murdered Family". Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Jul 21 2016

From the 1870s to the 1930s, New York City's fabled Chinatown was the site of a series of vicious wars between two rival tongs, the On Leongs and the Hip Sings. Scott D. Seligman, author of "Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money and Murder in New York's Chinatown" joins me to chat about the origins of the animosity, and how their rivalry escalated into incredible brutality for both sides. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 15 2016

Alfred Knapp, known as the "Hamilton Strangler", left a trail of dead young women through Southern Ohio in the 1890s and early 1900s. My guest, Richard O Jones, the host of the "True Crime Historian" podcast, and author of "The First Celebrity Serial Killer in Southwest Ohio: The Confessions of the Strangler Alfred Knapp", tells the story of the life and death of this notorious killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 09 2016

Dale W. Laackman, author of "For the Kingdom and the Power: The Big Money Swindle That Spread Hate Across America", tells the story of con artists Edward Young Clarke and Bessie Tyler, who through a brilliant public relations campaign turned the Ku Klux Klan from shadowed obscurity to a structured and powerful organization of millions in late 1910s and early 1920s America, and made a fortune in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 29 2016

In the small town of Isadore Michigan in 1907, a young nun named Janina disappeared. Ten years later, her body is discovered by a priest intent on building a new church on the foundation of the old one. Mardi Link, author of "Isadore's Secret", chats with me about the terrible circumstances surrounding the death of Sister Janina. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 22 2016

In February of 1874, a group of six men set off through the high mountains of Colorado. Weeks later, only a man named Alfred Packer came out. Packer would later be tried and convicted of robbing, murdering and eating his traveling companions. Prolific true crime writer Harold Schechter returns again to Most Notorious to talk about his bestselling book, Man-Eater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 11 2016

In early 1870s Kansas, a German family named the Benders built a small shack, opened it as an inn, and robbed and butchered travelers who stopped there for a bed or a meal. I'm joined by Phyllis de la Garza, author of "Death for Dinner", who tells the story of the murderous family known in history and American lore as the "Bloody Benders". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 05 2016

My guest, Steve Hodel, author of Black Dahlia Avenger and Most Evil, and I continue our discussion about the Black Dahlia case. We discuss the evidence he's collected implicating his father George Hodel, including a set of police transcripts that links his father to other unsolved Los Angeles murders from the late 1940s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 01 2016

No case in Los Angeles crime history has been more discussed and speculated about than the January 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia. My guest, Steve Hodel, is a private investigator, former LAPD homicide detective, and author of Black Dahlia Avenger. In his book he documents his investigation into the murder, implicating his own father, George Hodel, in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 25 2016

My guest on this episode is Jeff Maysh, author of the Kindle single "Handsome Devil", a book that documents the life and death of one of the most talented and charming con artists of the 20th century, Victor Lustig. He was a master of disguise, an escape artist, and the creator of epic swindles in the 1920s and 30s, including "selling" the Eiffel Tower and managing one of the most prolific counterfeiting operations in American history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

May 18 2016

May 18th, 2016, marks the 89th commemoration of the Bath, Michigan School Massacre. In 1927 Andrew Kehoe rigged the school with over 600 pounds of dynamite. The explosion killed 38 school children, 6 teachers, and injured dozens more. Arnie Bernstein, author of "Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing", talks with me about the devastating tragedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 12 2016

For those of us who've watched and enjoyed HBO's Deadwood, the town and its characters are absolutely larger than life. But was the show historically accurate? What is fact and what is fiction? My guest, Barbara Fifer, author of Deadwood Saints and Sinners, helps set the record straight. Her writing partner and co-author, the late Jerry Bryant, was a consultant on the Deadwood TV show, and has passed to her a treasure trove of historical research on both the town, and its biggest villain, Al Swearengen. She chats with me about both on this week's episode.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

May 04 2016

Al Capone is the most infamous gangster in American history, forever associated with Chicago, and known around the world for his connection to the bloody St. Valentine's Day Massacre. But did he really order those murders? Many don't think so. My guest, Deirdre Marie Capone is the granddaughter to Al's brother Ralph, and author of Uncle Al Capone. She offers an inside view into the Capone family, and helps dispel some of the long held beliefs about Al Capone, his actions, and his later life.&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Apr 27 2016

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream was a 19th century contemporary of Jack the Ripper, and many claim that they were one in the same. The UK's A.J. Griffiths-Jones, author of "Prisoner 4374", discusses the life of this serial killer, better known as "Lambeth Poisoner", and the bloody trail he left through Canada, the United States and England. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 05 2016

When authorities have difficulties linking physical evidence to Bruno Hauptmann in the Charles Lindbergh Jr. abduction and murder, Arthur Koehler, an expert on wood, helps them connect Hauptmann to the ladder left outside the Lindbergh family estate on March 1st, 1932. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 29 2016

On May 4th, 1886 in Chicago's Haymarket, a labor rally is interrupted first by a column of police officers, and then by a bomb from the crowd thrown into their ranks. This has major implications for the labor and social reform movement in the US. James Green, author of Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, talks about the events leading up to the bombing and the aftermath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Mar 23 2016

In the winter of 1900, John Hossack is brutally attacked and mortally wounded with an axe while in bed next to his wife. Patricia Bryan, author of Midnight Assassin, talks about the murder and the number one suspect, John Hossack's wife Margaret, and the shock of the crime to rural turn-of-the-century Iowa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 14 2016

in 1920 three African-American men were lynched in Duluth, Minnesota, accused of raping a white woman. Over 10,000 people gathered in the street to watch them hang. Michael Fedo, author of The Lynchings In Duluth, discusses this terrible moment in Minnesota history, and the questionable accusations that led to it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 07 2016

In the late 1920s, an estimated 20 boys or more are abducted, tortured and murdered at a chicken ranch in Wineville, California. My guest is Anthony Flacco, author of The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders. He tells the both tragic and inspiring story of Sanford Clark, the nephew of sadistic serial killer Gordon Stewart Northcott. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 29 2016

I'm joined by Tobin T. Buhk, the author of Poisoning The Pecks of Grand Rapids: The Scandalous 1916 Murder Plot. We talk about the charming, devious killer Arthur Warren Waite, who ingratiated himself into the wealthy Peck family through marriage, and then put a plot in motion to kill every member of the family so he could inherit a fortune. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 22 2016

Karen Abbott, author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, joins me to talk about a group of extraordinary women in 1860s America, both Union and Confederate, who become spies to help advance their sides in the Civil War. The song at the end of the episode, My Rebel Soldier, is available for purchase through Itunes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15 2016

Off of the coast of western Australia, the Dutch East India Company's state-of-the-art ship, the Batavia, wrecks on a reef in June of 1629. One of the officers on board, a failed apothecary named Jeronimus Corenlisz, is left in charge of the survivors and begins to slaughter them with terrible brutality. I'm joined by the author of "Batavia's Graveyard", Mike Dash, who tells this story in gruesome detail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 08 2016

In 1937, on the eve of the Japanese occupation of Peking (Beijing), China, a young English woman is found brutally murdered at the base of Fox Tower, and an investigation launches that churns up some disturbing details. Paul French, the author of Midnight in Peking, is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious!. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 31 2016

Benny Binion was a larger-than-life character, a gangster who grew up in Texas and built a criminal empire. Eventually he moved to Las Vegas, started the Horseshoe Casino, and began the World Series of Poker. I chat with Doug Swanson, author of Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker about the crazy life of this Lone Star legend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 25 2016

December 29th, 2015, marked the 125th Anniversary of one of the most tragic events in American history. My guest Jerome A. Greene, author of American Carnage: Wounded Knee 1890, talks about the massacre of Lakota Indians by the United States 7th Cavalry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 19 2016

We're back to Old New Mexico on this episode of Most Notorious. I talk to Mark Lee Gardner, author of To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett about this famous duo, forever linked in history in the early 1880s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 12 2016

J.D. Chandler, author of Murder and Scandal in Prohibition Portland, relays the tale of the Torso Murder in 1946 Portland, Oregon, including his decade long investigation of this very cold case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 04 2016

In this episode, host Erik Rivenes talks with Arnie Bernstein, author of Swastika Nation, about the rise Nazism in the United States in the 1930s under Fritz Kuhn. Famed columnist Walter Winchell, Jewish gangsters like Mickey Cohen and Meyer Lanksy, and even a former Miss America play a part in Kuhn's eventual fall from power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 28 2015

Author Joe Urschel is the Executive Director of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington D.C. He's also the author of The Year of Fear: Machine Gun Kelly and the Manhunt That Changed the Nation. Joe and Erik discuss the life and times of George Kelly and his adversarial relationship with F.B.I Director J. Edgar Hoover in the early 1930s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 21 2015

On Christmas Day, 1929, in Germanton, North Carolina, Charlie Lawson murdered his wife and six children on their rural farm. This horrific crime is part of local lore, and Trudy J. Smith and her father, M. Bruce Jones researched the massacre 25 years ago, conducting interviews with Lawson family members and witnesses. Their original book, "White Christmas, Bloody Christmas" has been revised and expanded in the last ten years, and is now called "The Meaning of Our Tears". Host Erik Rivenes talks with Trudy Smith about the Christmas Day Murders in this episode of Most Notorious!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 14 2015

Jack El-Hai is a Minnesota author who has written many books, including The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goring, Dr. Douglas M Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of World War 2. However, our subject in this episode of Most Notorious is the scoundrel Harry Hayward, famous in Minnesota for murdering Kitty Ging in 1894. Jack El-Hai and I delve into the egotistical mind of Hayward, and discuss the possibility that he was an early American serial killer, preceding H.H. Holmes by five years. &nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 07 2015

Harold Schecter is one of America's most prolific true crime writers. Back in 2001, he wrote about one of the most chilling serial killing sprees in history, a true life account of the notorious "boy-fiend" Jesse Harding Pomeroy in 1870s Boston. Erik Rivenes chats with the author about his fascinating book called "Fiend", along with some information on his newest work. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Dec 01 2015

In 1799 Big Harpe and Little Harpe swathed a bloody path down the Wilderness Trail in Kentucky and Tennessee, murdering everyone in their path. My guest, E. Don Harp, a descendant of the infamous brothers, argues in "The Last Rampage of the Terrible Harpes" that they were the first serial killers in American History. In our conversation we get the lowdown on these lowdown murderers. Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 23 2015

Mickey Cohen went from selling newspapers on the streets of L.A. to heading one of the largest crime rackets in the United States. He worked under Bugsy Siegel, rubbed shoulders with Frank Sinatra, Lana Turner and Billy Graham, and cut down enemies with a ruthless passion. Joining host Erik Rivenes is Tere Tereba. A former fashion designer, friend of Jim Morrison and Andy Warhol, she wrote the definitive book of the Los Angeles underworld, called "Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.'s Most Notorious Mobster". Support the show! Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 17 2015

The murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in 1892, and the accusation that sent daughter Lizzie Borden to trial, is one of the most infamous in American history. But did Lizzie Borden really give her mother forty whacks? What is myth, and what is fact in this notorious murder case? Erik speaks with Joseph Conforti, author of "Lizzie Borden on Trial: Murder, Ethnicity and Gender" about the woman behind the crime. Support the show! Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs!&nbsp;Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 10 2015

Guest Simon Baatz, author of “For the Thrill of It: Leopold and Loeb and the Murder That Shocked Chicago” talks about the infamous Bobby Franks murder, and the trial of Leopold and Loeb, with famed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow at the defense. Also, Irish mobster Dean O'Banion runs into trouble on Chicago's north side. Support the show! Go to www.mostnotorious.com and click the Amazon link for all of your online shopping needs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...more

Nov 02 2015

Paul Maccabee released the definitive book of Minnesota crime in 1994, “John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks Tour of Crime and Corruption in Saint Paul”. Host Erik Rivenes, author of the Detective Harm Queen mystery series, chats with Paul about gangster history and the terrible crimes committed by Dillinger, the Barker-Karpis Gang and other notorious Midwest bank-robbing gangsters of the 1930s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices